We found the busy market area. Can you believe that a car and several motorcycles were able to drive up the street above? We were barely able to get through ourselves. We walked up a block and the took a turn on a street with only half the number of folks on it. But this street had four times the vehicles so it was not much easier to navigate. Leslie was on the hunt for some better hair color, more blonde less blue, so we headed further afield to get the store that had hair color. We found it and it was reasonably prices to boot. This took us further to the north than we had been before and we could feel the wind blowing off the water. We had a half hour walk back along the T1 tram line. We took a slight detour through a park and then through the Hippodrome square. We wanted some tonic water and Google took us up and down some hills that perhaps we did not need to conquer.
The newest fashions were on display
The actual blue mosque
Our AirBnB told us that our place overlooked the Blue Mosque. That is not true it overlooks the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque...grrr
Our first sighting of the Asia side of Istanbul
A mishmash of styles
This is a patriotic song
A whole bunch of schoolkids were filing into this museum
Hot tea anyone?
3000 mosques in this city
The local ice cream is made with a orchid root extract
It is chewy
We got the combo cone
There are fountains out in front of all the mosques. It is there for folks to wash before going in to pray.
Dervish tile!
So many cool tiles
Bubble wrap comfort
Tower of Baklava
What is behind this odd gate?
A cemetery
Beautiful calligraphy
Tiny but cool nonetheless
Sassy women wearing berets can urinate here
Rat Pack bathroom
Iootanbul???
I see, the "S" is tired and is taking a nap
Rose Ringed Parakeet
The parakeet likes this tree
Seriously nice plumage
Who is that on the bridge? Why it is my sweetie!
Very midievil look
The gates to the park
Another mosque's fountain
Traditional flat bread freshly made
Yes another fountain. It is more than just a fountain, it was a way to provide water to the population before the advent of indoor plumbing
The Hagia Sophia Mosque
So many fountains
The Blue Mosque
Please follow these rules
An Obelisk that the Sultan found in his pocket when he came back from Egypt, "Oops I'll just have to keep it" he said.
This pillar used to be covered in bronze plates
A small row of houses that seem out of place
A very run down fortification
An all tile exterior
A fine hotel
More nice hotels on our hike back up to the AirBnB
Sun going down
Another great sunset place
So many ships
Lots of birds to share our sunset